Monitoring retail transactions associated with a financial institution-based merchant offer program and determining savings metrics

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention provide for monitoring transactions and providing related savings metrics in association with a financial institution-based merchant offer program. Since the transaction monitoring occurs at the financial institution level, the savings metrics may include savings amounts lost by conducting a transaction absent a merchant offer when an applicable merchant offer was available.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119

The present application for patent claims priority to Non-Provisionalapplication Ser. No. 13/013,689 entitled “Monitoring Retail TransactionsAssociated with a Financial Institution-based Merchant Offer Program andDetermining Savings Metrics” filed Jan. 25, 2011 which claims priorityto Provisional Application No. 61/299,715 entitled “Monitoring RetailTransactions and Determining Savings Metrics Using a FinancialInstitution-Based Merchant Offer Program” filed Jan. 29, 2010. Bothassigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated byreference herein.

FIELD

In general, embodiments of the invention relate to methods, systems,apparatus and computer program products for monitoring retailtransactions and providing data related to amount saved and, moreparticularly, monitoring and providing data related to amount savedassociated with a financial institution-based merchant offer program.

BACKGROUND

The advent of the Internet has provided merchants with new channels forreaching customers and providing information, advertising, and offersrelated to their products or services. However, sales and marketingcampaigns are often not as effective as they might be, because theyprovide the customer the wrong information, advertisements, or offers,or alternatively provide the customer the right information,advertisements, or offers at the wrong time. The Internet, likewise,provides customers with the ability to quickly locate information aboutproducts or services in which they are interested, and to purchase thoseproducts or services, without leaving their computer. However, customerswho shop online often cannot find the exact product or service that theywant, they fail to find what they want at a price that they findattractive, or they fail to utilize discounts that are available for theproducts for services. These scenarios result in discounts or promotionsoffered by the merchant not being utilized or in customers not receivingthe benefit of such discounts or promotions.

Financial institutions have large amounts of customer data because theymaintain or administer their customers' various financial accounts(i.e., credit card account, checking account, savings account, etc.) andbecause they also have data related to their customers' purchases.Financial institutions track and store data related to when theircustomers made the purchases, how much the customers spent, whatmerchants the customers used to make the purchases, etc. for both onlineand offline purchases. Furthermore, financial institutions also havedirect relationships with many different merchants that use thefinancial institutions for their own financial needs. Due to therelationships financial institutions have with both customers andmerchants, as well as the data that they capture because of thoserelationships, financial institutions are uniquely positioned tofacilitate merchants in providing targeted sales and marketing offers tocustomers at the time of purchase; and to provide customers with paymentoptions and information (i.e., balances) for making purchasing decisionsfor products and services.

In addition to utilizing targeted sales and marketing offers, customersalso benefit from having the ability to track savings metrics associatedwith targeted sales and marketing offers, such as amounts saved on a pertransaction basis, cumulative savings over a specified time period,percentage saved of a predetermined overall savings goal and the like.From the customer perspective, such savings data reinforces theusefulness of the targeted sales and marketing offers, provide theincentive for the customer to continue to use the targeted sales andmarketing offers and allows the customer to plan further purchases thatmay include use of the merchant offers/discounts.

A need exists to develop systems, methods, apparatus, computer programsand the like that provide for highly effective means for deliveringtargeted sales and marketing offers to customers and, specifically,financial institution customers. In addition, the desired systems,methods, apparatus and computer program products should provide theability to readily and effectively track savings metrics associated withthe targeted sales and marketing offers and provide for various means ofcommunicating the savings metrics to the customer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodimentsin order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments,and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of allembodiments, nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its solepurpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in asimplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that ispresented later.

Embodiments of the present invention address the above needs and/orachieve other advantages by providing apparatuses (e.g., a system,computer program product, and/or other device), methods, or acombination of the foregoing for monitoring transactions and determiningtransaction-related savings metrics in association with a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program. The savings metrics may be anydata related to realized, potential and/or lost savings as associatedwith the financial institution-based merchant offer program. Thefinancial institution not only has the ability to track merchant offersassociated with the program that are accepted by the customer (thus,resulting in a savings), but the financial institution also has theability to track or monitor other transactions made by the customer inwhich relevant merchant offers were available at the time of thetransaction but were not accepted or were not made aware of to thecustomer. As such, the present invention not only provides for savingsmetrics related to the amount saved, but also provides for savingsmetrics related to the amount that the customer could have saved ifmerchant offers related to the program had been used or otherwiseaccepted by the customer.

In addition, by monitoring and tracking transactions that benefit fromthe merchant offer program, transactions that failed to benefit from themerchant offer program and transactions outside of the merchant offerprogram, the present invention is able to determine what types of offersshould be presented to the customer in the future and from whichmerchants.

In addition, the present invention provides multiple means forcommunicating the savings metrics to the customer, such as viaconventional financial institution statements, online bankingstatements, transactions receipts, to a merchant offer program localinterface application, such as a widget, and/or the like.

A method for providing savings monitoring in a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program defines first embodiments ofthe invention. The method includes monitoring, via a computing deviceprocessor, merchant transactions conducted by a financial institutioncustomer to identify one or more first merchant transactions. The firstmerchant transactions are based on customer acceptance of first merchantoffers associated with the financial institution-based merchant offerprogram. The method further includes determining, via a computing deviceprocessor, one or more savings metrics associated with the firstcustomer transactions and based on savings realized from acceptance ofthe first merchant offers. In addition, the method includes providingthe one or more savings metrics to the financial institution customer.

In specific embodiments of the method determining further includesdetermining, via the computing device processor, the one or more savingsmetrics, wherein one of the savings metrics is configured to be a totalamount saved for the first merchant transactions, wherein the firstmerchant transactions occur over a predetermined period of time, such asa month, a year and/or over the life of the financial institution-basedmerchant offer program. In other related embodiments of the method,determining further comprises determining, via the computing deviceprocessor, the one or more savings metrics, wherein one of the savingsmetrics is configured to be a per transaction savings amount.

In other specific embodiments of the method, providing further includesproviding, via a computing device processor, the one or more savingsmetrics to the financial institution customer via one or more of afinancial institution-based merchant offer program user interfaceapplication, a merchant transaction receipt, and a financial institutionstatement, such as an online banking statement or the like.

In still further specific embodiments of the method, monitoring furtherincludes monitoring, via the computing device processor, the merchanttransactions conducted by the financial institution customer to identifysecond merchant transactions. One or more second merchant offersassociated with the financial institution-based merchant offer programwere available concurrent with the second merchant transaction, thesecond merchant offers were associated with an item in the secondmerchant transactions and the second merchant offers were not applied bythe financial institution customer in the second merchant transactions.In such embodiments of the method, determining may further includedetermining, via the computing device processor, one or more lostsavings metrics associated with the second customer transactions andproviding may further include providing the one or more lost savingsmetrics to the financial institution customer. In further suchembodiment of the method, determining the one or more lost savingsmetrics may further include determining, via the computing deviceprocessor, the one or more lost savings metrics, wherein one of the lostsavings metrics is configured to be a total amount lost savings for thesecond merchant transactions and the second merchant transactions occurover a predetermined period of time, such as a month, a year and/or overa life of the financial institution-based merchant offer program.

In still further related embodiments of the method, determining furtherincluded determining, via the computing device processor, the one ormore savings metrics, wherein one of the savings metrics is configuredto be a percentage saved of a customer savings goal.

Moreover, in further embodiments the method includes automaticallytransferring, via a computing device processor, at least a portion ofsavings amounts associated with the first merchant transactions from afirst customer-designated account to a second customer-designatedaccount.

An apparatus for providing savings monitoring in a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program defines second embodiments ofthe invention. The apparatus includes a computing platform including atleast one processor and a memory. The apparatus further includes afinancial institution-based merchant offer program application stored inthe memory, executable by the processor and configured to communicatemerchant offers to financial institution customers based onauthentication of the customer. The apparatus further includes atransaction monitoring routine stored in the memory, executable by theat least one processor and configured to identify one or more firstmerchant transactions. The first merchant transactions are based oncustomer acceptance of first merchant offers associated with thefinancial institution-based merchant offer program. In addition, theapparatus includes a savings metric determination routine stored in thememory, executable by the processor and configured to determining one ormore savings metrics associated with the first customer transactions andbased on savings realized from acceptance of the first merchant offers.

In specific embodiments of the apparatus the savings metricdetermination routine is further configured to determine the one or moresavings metrics, wherein one of the savings metrics is configured to bea total amount saved for the first merchant transactions, such that thefirst merchant transactions occur over a predetermined period of time,such as a month, a year and/or over the life of the financialinstitution-based merchant offer program. In other related embodimentsof the apparatus, the savings metric determination routine is furtherconfigured to determine the one or more savings metrics, in which one ofthe savings metrics is configured to be a per transaction savingsamount.

In other specific embodiments of the apparatus, the financialinstitution-based merchant offer program application further includes auser interface routine, such as a widget or the like, configured toprovide the one or more savings metrics to the financial institutioncustomer. In still further related embodiments the apparatus includes atransaction receipt routine stored in the memory, executable by theprocessor and configured to provide the one or more savings metrics tothe financial institution customer via a first merchant transactionreceipt. In additional related embodiments the apparatus includes anetwork-accessible online financial institution module, stored in thememory, executable by the processor and configured to provide the one ormore savings metrics to the financial institution customer via an onlinefinancial institution statement.

In further specific embodiments of the apparatus the transactionmonitoring routine is further configured to monitor the merchanttransactions conducted by the financial institution customer to identifysecond merchant transactions. One or more second merchant offersassociated with the financial institution-based merchant offer programwere available concurrent with the second merchant transaction, thesecond merchant offers were associated with an item in the secondmerchant transactions and the second merchant offers were not applied bythe financial institution customer in the second merchant transactions.

In such related embodiments of the apparatus, the savings metricdetermination routine may be further configured to determine one or morelost savings metrics associated with the second customer transactions.In such embodiments of the apparatus, the savings metric determinationroutine is further configured to determine the one or more lost savingsmetrics, wherein one of the lost savings metrics is configured to be atotal amount lost savings for the second merchant transactions, whereinthe second merchant transactions occur over a predetermined period oftime, such as a month, a year and/or over a life of the financialinstitution-based merchant offer program.

In still further specific embodiments of the apparatus, the savingsmetric determination routine is further configured to determine the oneor more savings metrics, wherein one of the savings metrics isconfigured to be a percentage saved of a customer savings goal.

Moreover, in other embodiments the apparatus includes a savings transferroutine stored in the memory, executable by the processor and configuredto automatically transferring at least a portion of a savings amountsassociated with the first merchant transactions from a firstcustomer-designated account to a second customer-designated account.

A computer program product includes a non-transitory computer-readablemedium defines third embodiments of the invention. The computer-readablemedium includes a first set of codes for causing a computer to monitormerchant transactions conducted by a financial institution customer toidentify one or more first merchant transactions. The first merchanttransactions are based on customer acceptance of first merchant offersassociated with the financial institution-based merchant offer program.The computer-readable medium also includes a second set of codes forcausing a computer to determine one or more savings metrics associatedwith the first customer transactions and based on savings realized fromacceptance of the first merchant offers. In addition, thecomputer-readable medium includes a third set of codes for causing acomputer to provide the one or more savings metrics to the financialinstitution customer.

Thus, systems, apparatus, methods, and computer program products hereindescribed provide for monitoring transactions and providingtransaction-related savings metrics in association with a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program. Since the transactions arebeing monitored and the savings metrics determined by a financialinstitution, the savings metrics may not only include amounts saved byaccepting the merchant offers, but also amounts that the customer couldhave saved if they had accepted an offer and/or been aware of an offer.Additionally, since the transaction monitoring of the present invention,tracks transactions that occur inside and outside of the merchant offerprogram, the present invention is also capable of determining the typeand/or source of future offers, so as to better meet the specific needsof the customer.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreembodiments comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more embodiments. These features are indicative, however,of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of variousembodiments may be employed, and this description is intended to includeall such embodiments and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described embodiments of the invention in general terms,reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 provides a block diagram illustration of an apparatus configuredfor monitoring customer transactions associated with a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program and determining savings metricsfor the transactions, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 provides a block diagram illustrating customer and financialinstitution apparatus for implementing a financial institution-basedmerchant offer program, in accordance with present embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 3 provides a block diagram illustrating a financial institutionapparatus for monitoring customer transactions and providing savingsmetrics associated with the merchant offer program, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 provides a block diagram illustrating various merchant offerprogram savings metric output channels, in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 5 provides a flow diagram of a method for monitoring transactionsand providing savings metrics associated with a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program, in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 6 provides a block diagram illustrating a comprehensive financialinstitution-based merchant offer program environment, in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7A provides an integrated online financial banking and customershopping process, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7B provides a continuation of the integrated online financialbanking and customer shopping process, in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 8 provides a web browser and merchant offer program notificationalert, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 provides a local merchant offer program application interface, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 provides a local merchant offer program application interfaceactivated by a customer searching the internet, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some,but not all, embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, theinvention may be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicablelegal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.Although some embodiments of the invention described herein aregenerally described as involving a “financial institution,” one ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the invention may beutilized by other businesses that take the place of or work inconjunction with financial institutions to perform one or more of theprocesses or steps described herein as being performed by a financialinstitution.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art in view of thisdisclosure, the present invention may be embodied as an apparatus (e.g.,a system, computer program product, and/or other device), a method, or acombination of the foregoing. Accordingly, embodiments of the presentinvention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardwareaspects that may generally be referred to herein as a “system.”Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product comprising a computer-usable storage mediumhaving computer-usable program code/computer-readable instructionsembodied in the medium.

Any suitable computer-usable or computer-readable medium may beutilized. The computer usable or computer readable medium may be, forexample but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, ordevice. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable medium would include the following: an electricalconnection having one or more wires; a tangible medium such as aportable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or othertangible optical or magnetic storage device.

Computer program code/computer-readable instructions for carrying outoperations of embodiments of the present invention may be written in anobject oriented, scripted or unscripted programming language such asJava, Pearl, Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the computer programcode/computer-readable instructions for carrying out operations of theinvention may also be written in conventional procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages.

Embodiments of the present invention are described below with referenceto flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods orapparatuses (the term “apparatus” including systems and computer programproducts). It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a particular machine, such that the instructions, which executevia the processor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create mechanisms for implementing the functions/actsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instructions, whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions, which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus, provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specifiedin the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. Alternatively,computer program implemented steps or acts may be combined with operatoror human implemented steps or acts in order to carry out an embodimentof the invention.

Embodiments of the present invention provide for systems, devices,apparatus, methods and computer program products for monitoringtransactions and providing for savings metrics in association with afinancial institution-based merchant offer program. Savings metrics asdefined herein include any data related to realized, potential and/orlost savings associated with the financial institution-based merchantoffer program. Since transaction monitoring occurs at the financialinstitution level and the financial institution has access to customerdata, including customer transaction data, the savings metrics mayinclude amounts saved by accepting the merchant offers associated withthe program and amounts that could have been saved if a merchant offerassociated with the program had been accepted. Additionally, the presentinvention is also capable of determining the type and/or source offuture merchant offers associated with the program based on themonitoring of previous transactions.

Referring to FIG. 1 a block diagram is provided of an apparatus 12configured to monitor customer transaction to identify transactionsbased on customer acceptance of merchant offers associated with thefinancial institution-based merchant offer program and to determinesavings metrics for the identified transactions, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. The apparatus 12 includes acomputing platform 13 having a processor 14 and a memory 16 incommunication with processor 14.

The memory 16 of apparatus 12 stores financial institution-basedmerchant offer program application 10. The merchant offer program isconfigured to provide merchant offers 64 to authenticated customers 15.The merchant offer program is “financial institution-based” in that thefinancial institution has a relationship with the merchants providingthe offers and, as such, is able to provide the merchant offers tocustomers of the financial institution. The financial institutioncustomers are authenticated, either prior to receiving merchant offersor prior to conducting a related transaction, in order to verify theiracceptance in the merchant offer program and, in some instance verifytheir identity. Specific embodiments of exemplary merchant offerprograms are discussed in relation to FIG. 2 and FIGS. 6-10, infra.

The memory 16 of apparatus 12 additionally stores transaction monitoringroutine 70 that is configured to monitor merchant transactions toidentify merchant offer program-related transactions 72 that are basedon customer acceptance of merchant offers 64. In specific embodiment thetransaction monitoring routine may limit monitoring to merchanttransactions associated with merchants participating in the programand/or merchant transactions conducted with authenticated customers 15.

In addition, memory 16 stores saving metric determination routine 80that is configured to determine one or more saving metrics 81 associatedwith the merchant offer-program-related transactions 72 and based onsavings realized from acceptance of the merchant offers 64. As discussedin detail, infra., the savings metrics may include a total savingsamount for a predetermined time period, such as a month, a year or thelike, a total savings amount over the life of the merchant savingsprogram and/or a per transaction savings amount.

Referring to FIG. 2 a high level block diagram of a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program environment 100 in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention is illustrated. Additionally,further details associated with an example of a merchant offer programare shown and described in relation to FIGS. 6-10, infra. Environment100 includes customer apparatus 22 and financial institution apparatus12. Customer apparatus 22 may comprise any computing device orcombination of computing devices, such as personal computer, laptopcomputer, mobile device, such as personal digital assistant (PDA),automated teller machine (ATM), smart telephone or the like. Thefinancial institution apparatus 12 may comprise any computing device orcombination of computing devices, such as servers, mainframe computers,or the like.

The customer apparatus 22 includes a computing platform 23 having atleast one processor 24 and a memory 26. The memory 26 includes localmerchant offer program application 11 that is configured to provide thefinancial institution customer with merchant offers based on thefinancial institution's predetermined relationship with a plurality ofmerchants. In accordance with specific embodiments of the invention, thelocal merchant offer program application is customer configurable.Configuration may include specifying which types of offers are to bepresented, from which merchants the customer desires offers to bepresented, the time of day the customer desires offers to be presentedand the like. The local merchant offer program application 11 may bedownloaded to apparatus 22, such as via a Intranet or other networkconnection or otherwise loaded from other computer readable medium, suchas a compact disc, flash memory device or the like.

The local merchant offer program application 11 includes authenticationroutine 50 that is configured to receive from the customerauthentication credentials, such as username 52 and password 54 andreceive authentication confirmation from a corresponding authenticationverification routine 56 executed on financial institution apparatus 12.In alternate embodiments the authentication credentials may be a cookiestored in the memory 26 of apparatus 22 that is automaticallycommunicated to the verification routine 56 upon activation of thedevice or the like. Thus, authentication routine 50 and correspondingauthentication verification routine 56 are configured to verify theidentity of the user as a financial institution customer and, morespecifically a financial institution customer authorized to participatein the merchant offer program.

In specific embodiments of the invention, the local merchant offerprogram application 11 may be configured to require customerauthentication at the onset of launching the application, i.e., prior toreceiving merchant offers. Such configuration, whereby the customerverifies identity prior to receiving merchant offers, may be necessaryif the merchant offer program is configured to provide customer-specificoffers based on customer attributes, customer profile data, previouscustomer transactions or the like. In other specific embodiments of theinvention, the local merchant offer program application 11 may beconfigured to require customer authentication prior to accepting anoffer or conducting the associated transaction. Such configuration,whereby the customer verifies identity prior to accepting an offer, maybe necessary to insure that the customer is an authorized participant inthe merchant offer program.

Local merchant offer program application 11 additionally includes localinterface routine 60 that is configured to provide a local interface onapparatus 22 for displaying one or more merchant offers 64 to thecustomer, and more specifically, customer-specific merchant offers 65.The merchant offers 64 are based on a predetermined relationship betweenthe financial institution and the merchant. The local interface may beconfigured to be displayed or otherwise pop-up based on specificcustomer actions. For example, if the apparatus 22 is a personalcomputer and the customer accesses a merchant website on the Internet,the routine 60 may be configured to automatically display the localinterface if the financial institution has a predetermined relationshipwith the merchant and, in some instances, if the financial institutionor the merchant are currently offering offers, such as discounts,rebates or the like. In other embodiments in which the apparatus 22 is aportable or mobile computing device and the device is equipped withlocation determination means, such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS)devices or the like, the presence of the device at or proximate to aphysical location of the merchant may cause the routine 60 toautomatically display the local interface if the financial institutionhas a predetermined relationship with the merchant and, in someinstances, if the financial institution or the merchant are currentlyproviding offers, such as discounts or the like. In other embodiments ofthe invention, the local interface may be customer activated and allowfor the customer to search for merchant offers by entering a merchantname or some other merchant identifying criteria, such as physicaladdress or the like.

As previously noted, the customer may configure application 11, suchthat local interface and corresponding merchant offers 64 are displayedor otherwise pop-up only based on customer defined criteria. Thecustomer defined criteria may include product/service type, merchanttype, offer type, time of day, week, etc., customer physical locationand the like. Thus, customer configuration of the local interface canlimit the instances in which the local interface is automaticallydisplayed or otherwise pops-up.

Financial institution apparatus 12 includes computing platform 13 havingone or more processors 14 and a memory 16. The memory 16 of apparatus 12includes financial institution merchant offer program application 10that is configured to determine merchant offers based on the financialinstitutions predetermined relationship with specified merchants andprovide the merchant offers to the customer via the local interface ofthe local merchant offer program application 11 executed on customerapparatus 22.

Financial institution apparatus 12 includes previously mentionedauthentication verification routine 56 that is configured to receiveauthentication credentials, such as username 52 and password 54 fromauthentication routine 50 of local merchant offer program application11, verify the authentication credentials based on stored authenticationdata and return authentication confirmation to authentication routine10. As previously noted, the system may be configured such that customerauthentication provides for presentation of merchant offers and/orallows the customer to conduct transactions based on presented merchantoffers.

Application 10 also includes merchant offer determination routine 62configured to determine merchant offers 64 and, more specifically,customer-specific merchant offers 65. Customer-specific merchant offers65 may be based on any customer information accessible to the financialinstitution, such as customer profile information, customer affinityinformation, customer account balances, customer account types, customertransaction information and the like. In addition, the customer-specificmerchant offers may be based on dynamic customer information, such asthe current physical location of the customer, the current web sitesbeing accessed by the customer or the like. Once the merchant offers aredetermined by routine 62 they are communicated to application 11 anddisplayed to the customer via local interface routine 60.

According to specific embodiments of the invention, customer-specificmerchant offers 65 may be based on previous customer transactionsincluding both merchant offer program transactions and non-merchantoffer program transactions. In this regard, the financial institutionhas the ability to track and determine previous customer transactionsincluding transactions in which a merchant offer through the program wasinvolved, as well as any other transaction conducted through thefinancial institution, such as a credit transactions (e.g., atransaction using a financial institution-issued credit card), a debittransaction from a financial institution savings or credit account,checking transactions from a checking account or the like. Thecustomer-specific merchant offers 65 determined based on previoustransactions may include, but are not limited to, offers for similarproducts/service, offers for related products/services and the like.

The memory 16 of apparatus 12 additionally stores transaction monitoringroutine 70 that is configured to monitor merchant transactions toidentify merchant offer program-related transactions 72 that are basedon customer acceptance of merchant offers 64. As previously noted, theidentification of merchant offer program-related transactions 72 may bethe basis for subsequent customer-specific merchant offers 65.

In addition, transaction monitoring routine 70 may be configured tomonitor merchant transactions to identify non-merchant offer programtransactions 76. Non-merchant offer program transactions 76 as definedherein are transactions conducted by the authenticated customer in whicha relevant merchant offer was available at the time of the transactionbut the customer either was unaware of the merchant offer or chose notto accept the offer. Thus, the non-merchant offer program transaction 76may have been conducted with the merchant that had the offer outstandingor with any other merchant, regardless of their participation in themerchant offer program.

In addition, memory 16 stores saving metric determination routine 80that is configured to determine one or more saving metrics 81 associatedwith the merchant offer-program-related transactions 72 and based onsavings realized from acceptance of the merchant offers 64. The savingsmetrics may include a total savings amount for a predetermined timeperiod, such as a month, a year or the like, a total savings amount overthe life of the merchant savings program and/or a per transactionsavings amount.

In additional embodiments of the apparatus, the savings metricdetermination routine 80 may be configured to determine savings metrics81 associated with non-merchant offer program transactions 76. Suchnon-merchant offer program transactions 76 provide insight into savingslost, i.e., the savings amount the customer could have realized if theyhad accepted the merchant offer that was outstanding at the time oftheir non-merchant offer program transaction 76.

FIG. 3 provides a more detailed block diagram illustration of apparatus12 configured for monitoring customer transaction to identifytransactions based on customer acceptance of merchant offers associatedwith the financial institution-based merchant offer program anddetermining savings metrics for the identified transactions, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. The memory 36stores transaction monitoring routine 70 that is configured to monitortransactions conducted by customers. In monitoring the transactions,routine 70 is configured to identify merchant offer program relatedtransactions 72 (i.e., transactions in which the customer accepted themerchant offer). In addition, routine 70 may be configured to identifynon-merchant offer program transactions 76, in which a merchant offerwas available but not accepted by the customer. In such instances, thecustomer may have declined the offer or the customer may have beenunaware of the existence of the offer.

As previously noted, financial institutions have access to customertransaction information including, but not limited to, credittransactions (e.g., a transaction using a financial institution-issuedcredit card), a debit transaction from a financial institution savingsor credit account, a check transaction from a financial institutionchecking account or the like and, therefore, can identify previoustransactions, based on product/service type or the like. As such thetransaction monitoring routine 70 can identify which customertransactions occurred without the benefit/savings of a merchant offerthat was available at the time of the transaction. It should be notedthat in some instances the customer may have been presented the merchantoffer and chose to forego the offer or, in other instances, the customermay have been unaware at the time of the transaction that an offerexisted (e.g., a transaction at a retail location in which the customerwas not in possession of a mobile device executing the local merchantoffer program application 11).

Memory 16 of apparatus 12 additionally stores saving metricdetermination routine 80 configured to determine one or more savingsmetrics 81 associated with merchant offer program transactions 72 andnon-merchant offer program transactions 76. In this regard, the savingmetric determination routine 80 may be configured to determine a pertransaction amount saved 81 for merchant offer program-relatedtransactions 72 and a per transaction amount lost savings 82 fornon-merchant offer program-related transactions 76. The per transactionamount lost savings 82 is the amount that the customer could have saveddefined as the difference between the transaction price and the merchantoffer price.

In addition, the savings metrics may include total amount saved 83 formerchant offer-program-related transactions 72 and total amount lostsavings 84 for the non-merchant offer program-related transactions 76.The total amount saved and/or lost savings may be a cumulative total ofall offers accepted over the life of the program and/or the total amountmay be for a predetermined time period, such as a month, a year or thelike.

In addition, saving metric determination routine 80 may be configured todetermine percentage saved 86 by accepting merchant offers in relationto a customer's predefined savings goal. In such embodiments, thesavings metric determination routine 80 may be in communication withcustomer profiles or other customer data records that indicate thecustomer's predefined savings goal. Additionally, the savings metricdetermination routine 80 may be configured to determine other savingsmetrics 88 as defined by the financial institution or as configured bythe customer based on the needs of the customer.

Memory 16 additionally stores customer database 90 that includes aplurality of customer profiles 92. In addition to storing personal data,account data, affinity data and any other data related to the customer,customer profile 90 stores savings metric data, including, but notlimited to, per transaction amount saved 81, per transaction amount lostsavings 82, total amount saved 83, total amount lost savings 84,percentage saved of customer's savings goal 86 and other savingsmetric(s) 88.

In addition, memory 16 may store savings transfer routine 94, which maybe configured by the customer to transfer all or a portion of the amountsaved 96 by accepting a merchant offer from a first customer account 97,such as a checking account or other account into a second customeraccount(s) 98, such as savings account, brokerage account or any otheraccount. The routine 94 may provide for customer/configuration such thatsavings transfers occur based on specified criteria and/or thresholds,such as savings above/below a specified amount, savings above/below aspecified savings percentage, minimum/maximum balances in the designatedtransfer account and the like.

Referring to FIG. 4 a block diagram is presented of various distributionmechanisms 110 for communicating the merchant offer program savingsmetrics to the customer, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. It should be noted that the distribution mechanisms 110 shownin FIG. 4 are by way of example only; other distribution mechanisms maybe used and are within the inventive concepts herein disclosed. Thedistribution mechanisms include online banking statement 120,conventional statement 130, transaction receipt 140 and merchant offerprogram local interface 150. Each of the distribution mechanism 110 mayinclude one or more savings metrics; including, but not limited to,amount per transaction savings amount 160, per transaction amount lostsavings 162, total savings amount over a specified time period 164,total lost savings amount over a specified time period 166 and/or othersavings metrics 168.

In accordance with specific embodiments of the invention, online bankingstatement 120 can be updated in real-time or near-real time fashion toreflect transactions that have just occurred and posted to therespective account. In this regard, once a transaction has occurred andposted to an account, online banking statement 120 indicates the pertransaction savings amount 160 for the previous transaction in which amerchant offer was presented and accepted and/or the per transactionamount lost savings 162 for the previous transaction in which an offerwas available but not accepted. In addition, the online bankingstatement 120 may include the total amount saved 164 and the totalamount lost savings 166 for a specified time period; for example, amonth, a year or the like, and/or over the life of the customer'sparticipation in the program, as well as, other savings metrics 168.

The conventional statement 130 is typically mailed, postal orelectronically, to a customer on a recurring basis, such as monthly orthe like. The conventional statement 130 indicates a listing oftransactions that occurred during the previous statement period andprovides for identification of those transaction in which a merchantoffer was used/accepted and the amount the customer saved 160.Additionally, the listing of transactions identify those transactions inwhich a merchant offer was available but was not used and the associatedamount lost savings 162 if the merchant offer had been accepted. Inaddition, the conventional statement 130 may include the total amountsaved 164 and the total amount lost savings 166 for a specified timeperiod; for example, a month, a year or the like, and/or over the lifeof the customer's participation in the program, as well as, othersavings metrics 168.

The transaction receipt 140 may be an online transaction receipt or, ifthe transaction occurs at a physical retail location, the transactionreceipt may be a printed hard-copy receipt. If the transaction includeduse of a merchant offer, the transaction receipt 130 indicates the pertransaction savings amount 160. If the transaction did not include useof a merchant offer but a merchant offer was available, the transactionreceipt indicates the per transaction amount lost savings 162 if themerchant offer was accepted. In addition, the transaction receipt 130may include the total amount saved 164 and the total amount lost savings166 for a specified time period; for example, a month, a year or thelike, and/or over the life of the customer's participation in theprogram, as well as, other savings metrics 168.

Merchant offer program local interface 150 may be configured to presentsavings metrics in real-time. In this regard, once a transactionassociated with an accepted merchant offer occurs, the local interface150 may display, shortly after the transaction occurs, the pertransaction amount saved 160. Similarly, once a transaction occurs inwhich a merchant offer was available but not used, the local interface150 may display, shortly after the transaction occurs, the pertransaction amount lost savings 162. In addition, the local interface150 may display a the total amount saved 164 and the total amount lostsavings 166 for a specified time period; for example, a month, a year orthe like, and/or over the life of the customer's participation in theprogram. Moreover, the local interface 150 may be configured to displaypotential saving prior to conducting a transaction associated with amerchant offer. Potential savings provides the customer with aproduct/service to consider, based on an outstanding merchantoffer/discount, before making the purchasing decision. In addition, thelocal interface may be configured to display other savings metrics 168.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method 170 for providing customer savingsmetrics associated with a merchant offer program, in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. At Event 172, merchant transactions aremonitored by a financial institution that is implementing a merchantoffer program. The merchant transactions are monitored to identify oneor more transactions that are based on customer acceptance of a merchantoffer associated with a financial-institution based merchant offerprogram. As previously noted, the financial institution has apredetermined relationship/agreement with a plurality of merchantswhereby the financial institution can offer its customers a merchantoffer, such as discount or the like. It should be noted that themonitoring of transactions may include the monitoring of alltransactions incurred by the merchant and not just those transactions inwhich a merchant offer is involved.

At Event 174, one or more savings metrics are determined. The savingsmetrics are associated with the identified merchant transactions and arebased on savings realized from acceptance of the merchant offer. Aspreviously noted the savings metrics may include, but are not limitedto, the amount saved per transaction based on acceptance of a merchantoffer, the amount lost savings transaction, the total amount saved, thetotal amount lost savings, the percentage saved of a customer's savingsgoal and the like.

At Event 176, the one or more savings metrics are provided to thecustomer associated with the metrics. As previously noted, the savingsmetrics distribution/communication mechanism may include, but is notlimited to, an online banking statement, a conventional bank statement,a transaction receipt, and display via the local interface.

FIG. 6 illustrates a comprehensive financial-institution-based merchantoffer program environment 100 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the financialinstitution-based merchant offer system 3 is operatively coupled, via anetwork 2, to one or more customer computer systems 4 of one or morecustomers 6, the financial institution's customer account systems 8, andthe merchant systems 9, as well as other systems at a financialinstitution, such as systems that maintain and administer customeraccounts, which are not shown. In this way, a customer 6 located at thecustomer computer system 4 can receive information from and sendinformation to the merchant offer application 10 located on thefinancial institution-based merchant offer system 3 through a localmerchant offer application 11 and/or a web browser application 20,located on the customer computer system 4 through the network 2. Thenetwork 2 may be a global area network (GAN), such as the Internet, awide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or any other typeof network or combination of networks. The network 2 may provide forwireline, wireless, or a combination of wireline and wirelesscommunication between devices in the network.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the financial institution-based merchant offersystem 3 generally includes a communication device 12, a processingdevice 14, and a memory device 16. As used herein, the term “processingdevice” generally includes circuitry used for implementing thecommunication and/or logic functions of a particular system. Forexample, a processing device may include a digital signal processordevice, a microprocessor device, and various analog-to-digitalconverters, digital-to-analog converters, and other support circuitsand/or combinations of the foregoing. Control and signal processingfunctions of the system are allocated between these processing devicesaccording to their respective capabilities. The processing device mayinclude functionality to operate one or more software programs based oncomputer-readable instructions thereof, which may be stored in a memorydevice.

The processing device 14 is operatively coupled to the communicationdevice 12, and the memory device 16. The processing device 14 uses thecommunication device 12 to communicate with the network 2, and otherdevices on the network 2, such as, but not limited to, the customercomputer systems 4, the customer account systems 8, and/or the merchantsystems 9, as well as other systems within the financial institutionthat are not shown. As such, the communication device 12 generallycomprises a modem, server, or other device for communicating with otherdevices on the network 2.

As further illustrated in FIG. 6, the financial institution-basedmerchant offer system 3 includes computer-readable instructions 18stored in the memory device 16, which in one embodiment include thecomputer-readable instructions 18 of a merchant offer application 10. Insome embodiments, the memory device 16 includes a datastore 19 forstoring data related to the financial institution-based merchant offersystem 3, including but not limited to data created and/or used by themerchant offer application 10.

As discussed later in greater detail, in one embodiment, the merchantoffer application 10 stores or receives customer profile data and datarelated to offline and online transactions from the account managementapplications 30. The merchant offer application 10 receives data relatedto customer browsing behavior and returns targeted offers to thecustomer 6. Offers include but are not limited to products, services,discounts, coupons, promotions, add-on sales, upsells, rebates,advertisements, marketing information, etc.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the customer computer systems 4 generallyinclude a mobile communication device 22, a processing device 24, and amemory device 26. The processing device 24 is operatively coupled to themobile communication device 22 and the memory device 26. The processingdevice 24 uses the mobile communication device 22 to communicate withthe network 2, and other devices on the network 2, such as, but notlimited to, the financial institution-based merchant offer system 3,customer account systems 8, and/or merchant systems 9, as well as otherfinancial institution systems not shown. As such, the mobilecommunication device 22 generally comprises a modem, server, or otherdevice(s) for communicating with other devices on the network 2, and adisplay, keypad, mouse, keyboard, microphone, and/or speakers forcommunicating with one or more users. The devices in the network can bepersonal computers, personal digital assistants (“PDA”), smart phone,cell phones, etc.

As further illustrated in FIG. 6, the customer computer systems 4comprise computer-readable program instructions 28 stored in the memorydevice 26, which in one embodiment includes the computer-readableinstructions 28 of the local merchant offer application 11 and a webbrowser application 20. In some embodiments, the memory device 26includes a datastore 29 for storing data related to the customercomputer systems 4, including but not limited to data created and/orused by the local merchant offer application 11 and/or the web browserapplication 20.

In one embodiment of the invention, the local merchant offer application11 is the part of the merchant offer application 10 that resides on thecustomer computer systems 4. The local merchant offer application 11assists in monitoring websites that the customer 6 is browsing throughthe web browser application 20 by monitoring and sending the informationrelated to the customer's web browsing to the merchant offer application10. In other embodiments of the invention there is no local merchantoffer application 11, as such the merchant offer application 10, whichis located on the financial institution's databases, performs thefunctions of the local merchant offer application 11 and, thus caninteract directly with the web browser application 20 located on thecustomer computer systems 4. In other embodiments of the invention thereis no local merchant offer application 11, as such the merchant offerapplication 10, which is located on the customer computer system 4,performs the functions of the local merchant offer application 11. Instill other embodiments of the invention the local merchant offerapplication 11 is a separate application, which is located on thecustomer computer system 4, that works in conjunction with the merchantoffer application 10.

Throughout this application the local merchant offer application 11 isdescribed as the part of the merchant offer application 10 that resideson the customer computer systems 4; however, it is to be understood thatthe apparatuses and methods described herein would work equally well inthe various embodiments of the merchant offer application 10 and localmerchant offer application 11 described above. Regardless of theconfiguration, the local merchant offer application 11 displays offers,determined by the merchant offer application 10, related to what thecustomer is searching to the customer 6 on an interactive graphical userinterface (i.e. local interface 400). The offers can be, among otherthings, based in part on the data stored by the merchant offerapplication 10 and the customer account systems 8, including but notlimited to customer profile data and transaction history.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the customer account systems 8 generallyinclude a communication device 32, a processing device 34, and a memorydevice 36. The processing device 34 is operatively coupled to thecommunication device 32 and the memory device 36. The processing device34 uses the communication device 32 to communicate with the network 2,and other devices on the network 2, such as, but not limited to, themerchant offer system 3, the customer computer systems 4, and/or themerchant systems 9, as well as other systems at the financialinstitution not shown. As such, the communication device 32 generallycomprises a modem, server, or other device(s) for communicating withother devices on the network 2.

As further illustrated in FIG. 6, the customer account systems 8comprise computer-readable program instructions 38 stored in the memorydevice 36, which in one embodiment includes the computer-readableinstructions 38 of account management applications 30. In someembodiments, the memory device 36 includes a datastore 39 for storingdata related to the customer account systems 8, including but notlimited to data created and/or used by the account managementapplications 30.

The account management applications 30, in one embodiment, are used tostore, process, and monitor the transactions, including but not limitedto, deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and payments, made through variouscustomer accounts, such as, but not limited to, checking, savings,credit card, hybrid, deposit, credit line, money market, equity line,investment, bill payment, transfer, etc. accounts. The accountmanagement applications 30 have the transaction history information foreach of the financial institution's customers, in some cases, for aslong as the customer's have had accounts with the bank. The transactionshistory information located in the account management applications issearchable and sortable over different ranges of time. The transactioninformation in the account management applications 30 is used by themerchant offer application 10, along with other information or alone, todetermine what targeted offers and marketing information should be sentto customers 6. In some embodiments of the invention, the accountmanagement applications 30 include online financial bankingapplications, such as an online banking website, which allow a customer6 to access the customer's accounts through the Internet.

As further illustrated in FIG. 6 the merchant systems 9 generallyinclude a communication device 42, a processing device 44, and a memorydevice 46. The processing device 44 is operatively coupled to thecommunication device 42 and the memory device 46. The processing device44 uses the communication device 42 to communicate with the network 2,and other devices on the network 2, such as, but not limited to, themerchant offer system 3, customer computer systems 4, and/or customeraccount systems 8, as well as other systems at the financial institutionnot shown. As such, the communication device 42 generally comprises amodem, server, or other device(s) for communicating with other deviceson the network 2, and a display, keypad, mouse, keyboard, microphone,and/or speakers for communicating with one or more users.

As further illustrated in FIG. 6, the merchant systems 9 comprisecomputer-readable program instructions 48 stored in the memory device46, which in one embodiment includes the computer-readable instructions48 of merchant applications 40. In some embodiments, the memory device46 includes a datastore 49 for storing data related to the merchantsystems 9, including but not limited to data created and/or used by themerchant applications 40.

The merchant applications 40, in one embodiment, are used to generate,store, process, and/or monitor the offers made directly to customercomputer systems 4 over the network 2 or indirectly though the merchantoffer system 3.

In other embodiments of the invention, the merchant offer environment 1will include other systems in the financial institution that areconnected over the network 2. In some embodiments of the invention, theother systems within the financial institution could include transactionprocessing systems such as check image processing, or online accountprocessing systems. These other systems can work in conjunction with themerchant offer system 3, or supplement and/or enhance the merchant offersystem 3.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate one embodiment of an integrated onlinepayment and customer shopping process 200 that describes how a customer6 utilizes the merchant offer environment 1 to search for offers on theInternet or in retail stores, receive offers related to the offers thecustomer 6 is searching, receive offers related to web-based contentthat the customer is accessing, and accept one or more of the offersusing various forms of payment. In order to utilize the merchant offerenvironment 1 the customer 6, in some embodiments, downloads the localmerchant offer application 11 to the customer computer system 4, asillustrated in block 202 of FIG. 7. In some embodiments the customercomputer system 4 is a computer, such as a laptop, desktop, or tabletcomputer, Internet television, or other electronic or digital mediumdevice, in other embodiments the customer computer system 4 may be amobile device, such as a PDA, cell phone, smart phone, Internet-onlycomputer, or any other device that has Internet browsing capability.

Once the local merchant offer application 11 is downloaded to thecustomer computer system 4, in some embodiments it will run bycommunicating constantly with the merchant offer application 10 locatedon the merchant offer system 3. In other embodiments, the customer 6 hasthe ability to turn the merchant offer application 10 on and off. Instill other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 will berequired to authenticate herself as the customer before using the localmerchant offer application 11 and merchant offer application 10.Authentication is required in some embodiments, when the merchant offerapplication 10 communicates with the customer's private customer accountinformation located on the customer account systems 8 at the financialinstitution. As explained in greater detail below, the merchant offerapplication 10 accesses the customer's account information in order todisplay to the customer 6, through the local merchant offer application11, the customer's balances for the accounts that the customer can useto pay for purchases made through the merchant offer environment 1.Moreover, when the customer 6 makes a purchase through the merchantoffer application 10, the merchant offer application 10 accesses thecustomer's account through the customer's online banking accounts and/orthe customer account systems 8 in order to make real-time or nearreal-time transactions between the customer 6 and the merchant.

The customer 6 in some embodiments may perform the authentication whendownloading the local merchant offer application 11, when the customer 6wants to use the local merchant offer application 11, or only when thecustomer 6 decides to make a purchase. Generally, in exemplaryembodiments, the local merchant offer application 11 runs on thecustomer computer system 4 at all times, and the customer onlyauthenticates herself when the customer wants to view the identifiedoffers or purchase something through the offers supplied by the merchantoffer application 10.

As illustrated in block 204 of FIG. 7A, the customer 6 searches theInternet for content, such as products or services or other informationlocated on websites. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the customer6 may be searching for a forty-six inch LCD television made by Brand“X”. Block 206 in FIG. 7A illustrates that as the customer 6 issearching for a particular product (i.e. the Brand “X” TV), the merchantoffer application 10 communicates with the web browser application 20that the customer is using, in order to determine what offers or othercontent the customer 6 is viewing through the web browser application20. As illustrated in block 208 in FIG. 7A the local merchant offerapplication 11 transfers the information related to the content thecustomer is viewing back to the merchant offer application 10.

In other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 does not have tosearch the Internet for offers in order for the merchant offerapplication 10 to gather information related to offers in which thecustomer 6 is interested. For example, if the local merchant offerapplication 11 is downloaded on a mobile device, such as a PDA, cellphone, smart phone, etc., the local merchant offer application 11 canrelay information to the merchant offer application 10 about thephysical location of the customer through location determining devices,such as global positioning satellite (“GPS”) or radio frequency (“RF”)locator systems in the mobile device. The merchant offer application 10can then provide offers or information that are relevant to thecustomer's physical location, such as offers applicable to the store inwhich the customer is located, offers at other stores in closeproximity, offers that can be purchased over the mobile device, etc.

In other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 can use the mobiledevice to identify information related to an offer at a physical store.For example, information about a product can be captured by capturing animage of the product, scanning an identifier (i.e. barcode or UPCnumber) located on the product into the mobile device, and/or enteringan identifier or keyword related to a product or service through akeyboard or voice command. The merchant offer application gathers theinformation related to the offer through the local merchant offerapplication 11, which, as explained in greater detail below, providesthe customer 6 with related offers or information on the customer'smobile device.

In some embodiments of the invention, a customer can use a mobile deviceto make a purchase through the actual point-of-sale applications at thestore in which the customer is located. In some embodiments of theinvention, a mobile device that is configured with a payment system,such as a near field communication (“NFC”) payment system or otherpayment system, can use the system to make a purchase through localmerchant offer application 11 downloaded on the mobile device. Thepurchase, in some embodiments, takes into account real time discounts,e-Coupons, etc. available through the merchant offer application 10, asdiscussed in further detail later. The customer's account can be updatedin real-time or near real-time to reflect the most recent transactionsusing a mobile device for payment.

After receiving information related to what offers or other content thecustomer 6 is currently viewing or searching, in some embodiments, themerchant offer application 10 analyzes the customer's past transactionpurchasing history, and the customer's profile information to determineone or more offers to present to the customer 6 through the localmerchant offer application 11, as illustrated by block 210 in FIG. 7A.The merchant offer application 10 analyzes the customer's pastpurchasing history and the customer's profile information, in part, fromthe account management applications 30, which store the histories ofpurchases made by the customer online and offline (i.e. brick and mortarstores).

In some embodiments of the invention, the financial institution may havea relationship with other financial institutions, credit card providers,Internet shopping services, etc., in order to gather more transactionaldata related to the customer's purchase history when the customer 6makes transactions with other business accounts, credit cards, etc., inaddition to the data that the financial institution maintains. In otherembodiments the customer 6 can upload the transaction histories oftransactions made with other financial institution accounts, creditcards, etc. by authorizing the financial institution to reach out andpull (or be pushed) data related to transactions from other accounts.For example, the customer 6 can provide the financial institution theaccount number and password to other online financial banking systems,online credit card statements, etc. and the financial institution canpull transaction information from those accounts. This additionalinformation can be also be used to provide the customer 6 more paymentoptions, from outside accounts, to use in completing the transaction.

In other embodiments of the invention the customer can log onto thecustomer's own merchant offer account in the merchant offer application10, or other account management application 30 to provide or entercustomized profile information. For example, the customer 6 can requestspecific types of offers, such as specific products or services,discounts, or advertisements in which the customer 6 is interested on awish list, which is explained in further detail below. In otherembodiments of the invention the customer 6 can provide profileinformation, which allows the merchant offer application 10 to providemore personalized offers to each individual customer 6. For example, theprofile information could include, but is not limited to, places thecustomer 6 likes to shop, hobbies in which the customer is interested,specific offers or merchants from whom the customer 6 does or does notwant to receive offers from, etc.

The offers identified by the merchant offer application 10 in block 210and provided to the customer 6 through local merchant offer application11, are determined in a number of ways. In exemplary embodiments, thefinancial institution will have in place arrangements with merchantsthat allow the financial institution to provide certain products orservices to customers through the merchant offer application 10 atdiscounted prices. The financial institutional will display the variousproducts or services that are the subject of a discount coupon, rebate,etc. The products and services will normally be displayed with the itemscarrying the greatest discount, coupon, rebate, etc., first. Thediscount, coupon, rebate, etc. can be the merchant's normal offer or canbe the subject of a separate arrangement with the financial institution.In other embodiments, the merchant may pay a fee to the financialinstitution per month, week, etc., or a flat fee, etc., in exchange forthe financial institution showing one or more of the merchant offers tocustomers 6. The size of discounts provided, and in some embodiments thefees paid by merchants, can be based on the number of hits theoffer/website of the merchant receives, the number times the offer isdisplayed, the number of customers who accept the offer by making apurchase, and/or the rank of the offer, etc. In some embodiments of theinvention the merchant may not offer the product at a discount, butinstead the financial institution may subsidize the offer by providingthe discount itself. In this instance, the financial institution wouldpay the merchant the full price of the product or service at the time ofsale, but debit the customer account a discounted price or rebate thecustomers at some future point in time. The financial institution couldmake up for the discounts by charging the merchants a fee to display theoffer to the customer 6 or by taking payments from the merchant for allof the discounts on offers provided within a certain time period.

Therefore, in some embodiments of the invention, either the merchant orthe financial institution will offer customized discounts for eachcustomer 6, which are based in part on the customer's profile data andthe customer's transaction history information. As previously discussedthe customer profile information could include what accounts thecustomer 6 has at the financial institution (checking, savings, equityline), as well as what services the customer 6 uses (such as financialplanners, wealth management, etc.). The customer transaction historyinformation could include the purchases the customer 6 has made atvarious stores, the costs of the purchases, time of year and day theywere made, the accounts used to pay for the purchases, etc. In someembodiments, the more products or services that the merchant uses withthe financial institution the greater the discount will be, the moreaccounts and services the customer 6 uses at the financial institutionthe greater the discount will be, and the more the customer 6 spendswith a particular merchant the greater the discounts will be for thatmerchant.

The merchant offer application 10 can determine the amount of theproducts or services the customer 6 has with the financial institutionthrough the customer profile information, and can use that informationas a basis for making offers available to that customer 6. The amount ofbusiness includes but is not limited to, how many accounts the customerhas, the amount of money in those accounts, any loans the customer 6 haswith the financial institution, any financial services the customer 6uses, etc. In one embodiment, the more products and services thecustomer 6 uses from the financial institution the greater the discountwill be. These factors can also be combined with the customer'srelationships with various merchants to determine what offers to makeavailable to the customer 6. For example, the merchant offer application10 can identify from the customer's transaction history what types ofproducts and services the customer 6 has purchased from variousmerchants in the previous week, month, six-months, year, etc. The sizeof the discounts the customer 6 receives based on the customer'srelationship with the merchants could based on the purchases made by thecustomer 6 with the merchant, and could vary in real-time or near realtime each time a purchase is made or not made. For example, a merchantin some embodiments may want to offer greater discounts to a customer 6who has not purchased anything in a while in order to try to generatenew business. In other embodiments, a merchant may want to reward aloyal customer 6 in order to promote additional purchases. Therefore, insome embodiments the more the customer 6 has purchased in the past, thegreater the customer's discount will be.

For example, the financial institution may have relationships with bothCompany “B” and Company “E”. A specific TV offered through the merchantoffer application 10 by Company “E” may sell for ten (10) dollars lessthan the same TV offered through Company “B”, based on the financialinstitution's arrangements it has made with both merchants. However,when the customer 6 is searching for a specific TV (or TV's in general),the financial institution may identify the transactions the customer 6has made with both businesses, by examining the transaction historyinformation that the financial institution has. If the financialinstitution, for example, identifies that the customer 6 purchasedtwo-thousand (2,000) dollars in products and services from Company “B”in the previous year, the terms of the relationship between thefinancial institution and Company “B” may dictate that the financialinstitution will offer the TV for one-hundred (100) dollars off of thetypical price of the TV. Therefore, the customer 6 receives a moreattractive price than she would have received because of the customer's6 relationship with the financial institution and/or the merchant.

In other embodiments of the invention the merchant offer application 10,provides member offers, such as a list of product discounts, that areoffered to all customers 6 of the merchant offer environment 1. In stillother embodiments of the invention, the merchant offer application 10,provides public offers, such as a list of product discounts that areoffered by the merchant to anyone in the public, not just members of themerchant offer environment 1. Furthermore, customized offers, memberoffers, or public offers are provided by the merchant offer application10 and displayed through the local merchant offer application 11.

When the merchant offer application 10 identifies an offer for thecustomer 6 the local merchant offer application 11 notifies the customer6 of the offer, as illustrated by block 212 in FIG. 7A. In oneembodiment for example, as illustrated in FIG. 8, a notificationindicator 304, such as a dollar sign or other icon or indicator couldappear in the bottom of the web browser that the customer is using toview the merchant's website. In other embodiments, the notificationindicator 304 could appear in the tool bar at the top or bottom of theweb browser or computer screen display, or in other areas of the webbrowser or computer screen. The dollar sign, or other icon ornotification indicator 304, signals to the customer 6 that the merchantoffer application 10 identified an offer in which the customer 6 may beinterested, which could save the customer 6 money. The offer may berelevant to a product or service the customer is viewing, it may beresponsive to a wish list item, it may be based on just the customer'stransaction history and/or profile information, etc.

As illustrated in blocks 214 and 216 of FIG. 7B, when the customer 6selects the notification indicator 304, a pop-up window, such as a localinterface 400, or other display is provided on the computer screen, orother device, illustrating the offers identified by the merchant offerapplication 10 as shown in FIG. 9. In some embodiments of the inventionthe customer 6 does not need to select the indicator to view the localinterface 400. In some embodiments, the local interface 400automatically pops-up on the screen when the merchant offer application10 identifies an offer. In other embodiments of the invention, when anoffer is identified the offer appears within the web-browser orweb-browser page that the customer 6 was viewing.

The pop-up window, such as the local interface 400, provides thecustomer 6 with offers related to products or services, or content thatthe customer 6 is currently viewing at an Internet website of amerchant, products or services listed on the customer's wish list, orproduct or services of interest to the customer 6 based on thecustomer's transaction history and/or customer profile. The offersprovided to the customer 6 in the window reflect offers, prices, anddiscounts from the current merchant or other merchants in which thecustomer 6 may be interested. The offers can be ranked based on variousfactors, such as but not limited to the discounts offered, agreementsbetween the merchants and the financial institutions, etc. The offers,in some embodiments will include links, such as to the merchant's webpages, which provide more information about the relevant offers.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, in an exemplary embodiment of the invention,the local merchant offer application interface 400 has two sections, theaccounts section 410, and the offers section 430. The accounts section410 illustrates the available balances the customer 6 has in each of thecustomer's accounts. The merchant offer application 10 communicates withthe local merchant offer application 11 and the account managementapplications 30 in the customer account systems 8 to determine anddisplay the account balances in the local interface 400. Other sectionsthat contain other types of information, for instance the customer'smonthly budget, etc. can also be displayed in the local interface 400.

The offer section 430, in some embodiments, displays the other retailers432 that can offer the same or similar product, the offer description434 illustrating what the offer is (the same product or a similar one),the percent savings 436, and the actual dollar amount savings 438. Inother embodiments of the invention the offer section 430, anothersection, or a separate tab displays related or add-on products in whichthe customer 6 may be interested. For example, if a customer issearching for a forty-six inch LCD TV the customer may also beinterested in DVD players, or services. In one embodiment of theinvention, a “see related offers” section button 440 or tab is selectedby the customer 6 in order to view any related offers identified by themerchant offer application 10, as illustrated in FIG. 10. However, insome embodiments the related offers are displayed in the offer section430 along with the product for which the customer 6 is searching. Instill other embodiments of the invention, the local merchant offerapplication interface 400 has an advertisement section 450 that displaysone or more targeted advertisements to a customer 6 based on thecustomer's previous purchasing history, customer profile information,and/or website content that the customer 6 is currently viewing.

As illustrated by block 218 in FIG. 7B, in some embodiments the localinterface 400 provides links to websites that contain additionalinformation about the products or services that are the subject of theoffers or related offers in the offers section 430. The customer 6selects the offer and is then taken to a website, such as the merchant'swebsite, other website, or a display in the local interface 400, whichprovides more information about the savings provided by the offers.Block 220 in FIG. 7B illustrates that the customer can select theoriginal offer that the customer 6 located or one of the replacementsoffers that the merchant offer application 10 identified and displayedto the customer 6.

As illustrated the by block 222 in FIG. 7B the customer 6 can alsopurchase related products or services in addition to, or in lieu of, theoriginally located products or services or replacement products orservices displayed by the merchant offer application 10.

In some embodiments, the customer 6 will have to authenticate herself inorder for the merchant offer application 10 to communicate with theaccount management applications 30, such as the customer's onlinebanking accounts, in order to display the customer's real-time accountbalances. In other embodiments of the invention, the merchant offerapplication 10 estimates the customer's account balances based on whatthe balances were the last time the customer 6 made a purchase orauthenticated herself. In some embodiments of the invention, the localinterface 400 displays the account balances for the customer's checkingaccount 412, savings account 414, credit card account 416, and anyreward points 418 that the customer has accumulated. In still otherembodiments, after the customer 6 makes purchases, the account balancesdisplayed in the local interface 400 are updated in real-time in orderto show the customer 6 how much money the customer 6 has available ineach of her accounts.

In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer 6 grants access,the local merchant offer application 11 can also display the accountinformation, such as balances, of other accounts or credit cardsmaintained by outside financial institutions. In these embodiments, thefinancial institution may have a relationship with the outside financialinstitutions and/or the customer 6 has supplied the merchant offerapplication 10 with access to the outside accounts (i.e. by providingthe sign in and password information for online banking services).

After the customer 6 selects the products or services she wants topurchase, either through the Internet or at a physical store, themerchant offer application 10 assists the customer in determining howshe wants to pay for the products or services. As illustrated by block224 in FIG. 7B the customer 6 selects from which account or multipleaccounts the customer 6 wants to pay for the offer selected. In someembodiments of the invention the customer's preference for paying for anoffer from a particular account or set of accounts is stored in thecustomer profile information in the merchant offer application 10, andin such circumstances, the predetermined preference acts as a default.In some embodiments of the invention, the necessary financial andshipping information is pre-populated at check-out when the customer 6makes a purchase. In other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6is prompted at checkout as to how the customer wants to pay for theproducts and services selected. In such embodiments, a list of thecustomer's accounts is provided in the local interface 400 or in anotherpop-up window. While the financial institution will pay the merchant thefull amount of the offers or the discounted amounts, in some embodimentsthe customer can tell the financial institution how to apply the cost ofthe products or services to the customer's accounts. For example, thecustomer for one purchase may indicate that she wants to pay 20% fromher checking account and 80% from her savings account. The amounts andthe various accounts can be changed for every purchase made. Thedecision of what account or accounts are used to make payments can bemade in some embodiments at the time of purchase. In other embodimentsof the invention, the customer 6 has a period of time to determine whataccount or accounts are debited. In such embodiments of the invention,the customer 6 logs into her online banking, merchant offer, or otheraccount and, either at the time of purchase or thereafter, associatesparticular transactions and transaction amounts with particularaccounts.

In some embodiments of the invention, the financial institutioneffectively becomes a clearing house for any of the transactions madebetween the customer 6 and the merchant. After the customer 6authenticates herself as an actual customer of the financialinstitution, in some embodiments the financial institution guaranteespayment to the merchant for the products and services. The financialinstitution is able to determine in each instance whether it wants toassume the risk for the transaction based on information the financialinstitution has for each of its customers. This is a benefit overindependent credit card issuers because these companies do not know thefinancial well-being of one their customers outside of the customers'credit card balances and payment histories. In this respect, themerchant offer application 10 can be utilized to help customers fromover spending their means and can assist the financial institution inmanaging risks attendant to extending consumer credit.

The actual purchase of the selected products and services from themerchant through the merchant offer environment 1 is achieved in anumber of ways. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, thelinks for particular offers in the local interface 400 take the user tothe merchant's secure website. However, in other embodiments of theinvention, the links take the customer 6 to the public merchant websiteand the financial institution can pre-populate the account information,as well as the mailing information. In other embodiments of theinvention, the account information can be a preapproved single useaccount number provided by the financial institution, which ties thecustomer 6 to the customer's accounts at the financial institution,without disclosing the customer's real account information to themerchant. In those instances where the financial institution has apre-existing relationship with the applicable merchant, the transactionthat takes place can be virtually instantaneous. The financialinstitution can credit the account of the merchant, if the merchant hasan account at the financial institution, or in other embodiments of theinvention, the financial institution can electronically transfer themoney to the merchant. Alternatively, the financial institution cancredit the merchant for the customers purchase on a schedule that isprearranged and agreed to by the financial institution and merchant.

After the payment method is satisfied, either the customer 6 or thefinancial institution can transfer the shipping address of the customer6 to the merchant for shipping the product or providing the service. Inlieu of the merchant shipping a product to the customer 6, the customer6 can pick-up the product at the store. Alternatively, if the customeris making the purchase at a brick and mortar location the customer 6 cansimply pick-up the product when purchased.

In other embodiments of the invention, the financial institutionprovides various financing options for the customer 6 to use in payingfor the selected products or services. For example, the financialinstitution can allow the customer to make a purchase from a merchant,but not debit the customer's account or accounts for 30, 60, 90, etc.days. As is the case with the amount of discounts provided to variouscustomers 6, different financing options can be provided to customersdepending, in some embodiments for example, on the customer's standingwith the financial institution and the number of financial of productsand services the customer uses with the financial institution.

Likewise, with respect to the financial institution making payments to amerchant, there are a number of options available to complete thetransition as far as the merchant is concerned. In some embodiments ofthe invention, the payment system and process provides settlementoptions to the merchant, such as real-time, 3-day, 15-day, etc. Themerchants can be charged different types of fees, or no fees, dependingon what payment options the merchants require. Different options mayapply in different circumstances. For instance, a different settlementoption might apply to different products sold by the merchant dependingupon the merchant's payment obligations to its suppliers. In otherembodiments, the payment options may vary depending upon the merchant'sfinancial situation, need for cash flows, lines of credit etc. Thepayment option variables are monitored electronically by the financialinstitution, and the appropriate payment option can be selectedautomatically based on a series of rules in the merchant offerapplication.

In some embodiments of the invention the steps in blocks 204 to 224 arerepeated every time the customer 6 visits a new web-site, selects adifferent product or service from the web-site the customer 6 iscurrently viewing, or when the merchant offer application 10 identifiesa product or service for the customer 6 based on the customer's wishlist, transaction history, or customer profile.

After a customer 6 selects a product or service, replacement, or add-onto purchase, the merchant offer application 10, in some embodiments ofthe invention, provides online social networking opportunities. Forexample, the customer 6 can rate a specific offer, merchant, or discountprogram. In other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 candisplay in the local interface 400 the most popular offers as rated byother customers who have accepted the offer. Furthermore, in otherembodiments of the invention the customer 6 can suggest to othercustomers a purchase or discount, that the customer 6 made, by sendingan e-mail, instant message notification, text message, or othernotification through a messaging service in the merchant offerapplication 10 or through other standard messaging formats using themerchant offer application 10. In other embodiments of the invention,the customer may join social networks or groups through the merchantoffer application 10, which allow the customer 6 and other members ofthe groups to receive special offers that only members of the specificgroup can receive and use.

In addition to displaying add-on products and services, while thecustomer 6 is searching for specific products or services on theInternet, the merchant offer application 10 will also make add-onproduct or service suggestions after the customer has purchased aproduct or service through the merchant offer application 10. In someembodiments of the invention some types of add-ons can only be madeafter a particular offer is accepted and purchased by the customer 6.For example, an extended warranty for a particular product such as aforty-six inch Brand “X” television offered through a merchant is onlyavailable for purchase through that merchant if the actual product ispurchased through that merchant. These additional add-ons, in someembodiments, can be displayed to the customer 6 through the localmerchant offer application interface 400, after the customer 6 haspurchased a particular product or service. In other embodiments of theinvention the add-ons are sent to the customer 6 though e-mail, textmessage, instant message, or other like form of communication. In otherembodiments of the invention, some add-ons are provided by the merchantoffer application 10 and are based in part on product type. For example,when a blue-ray DVD player is purchased the add-ons will includeBlue-ray DVDs as opposed to regular DVDs, because the customer would notlikely want Blue-ray DVDs if she purchased a regular DVD player.

In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer application 10has a search feature that allows a customer to search for availableoffers, through the local merchant offer application 11, by product(i.e. SKU, model, etc.), merchant, product type, brand, manufacturer,price, discount price, location, etc. The discounts provided to thecustomer 6 during the search can be customized for each individual userbased on relationships between the financial institution and merchants,the customer's profile information, the customer's transaction history,and/or publicly available discounts. The offers from the search, in someembodiments, are prioritized based on the customer's location,transaction history, profile information, etc.

In some embodiments of the invention the customer might not be able tofind the particular product or service for which the customer 6 issearching because the product is out of stock or the service is booked,the product or service is too expensive for the customer 6, the productor service cannot be delivered in time, etc. In such cases, the merchantoffer application 10 provides the customer 6 the ability to add aparticular desired product or service to a wish list. The customer'sindividual wish list, in some embodiments, has one or more products andservices that have notification alerts attached to them. Thenotification alerts inform the merchant offer application 10 to watchfor offers for those specific products or services, and any discountsrelated to them. The customer can also add merchants to the wish list inorder to be notified when a specific merchant is providing discounts tocustomers.

When the merchant offer application 10 identifies the availability of aproduct or service that is on the customer's wish list, the merchantoffer application 10 notifies the customer. For example, the customercan identify a specific product or service, such as a forty-six inch TV,and/or a specific price for the product or service, such as one-thousandthee-hundred (1,300) dollars for the forty-six inch TV. The merchantoffer application 10 monitors the databases 19 in merchant offer system3, or in some embodiments searches the Internet, for the product orservice that meets the particular parameters that the customer 6 wants.The merchant offer application 10 notifies the customer 6 when one ormore merchants meet the customer's parameters. In other examples, thecustomer 6 can identity a specific merchant, such as Company “B” or aspecific type of product or service, such as a flat screen TV, andrequest that the merchant offer application 10 notify the customer whenthe merchant is having a sale, or when sales are occurring for that typeof product or service. In this way the customer 6 does not have tocontinuously search for a product or service. Instead, the customer 6lets the merchant offer application 10 identify the product or servicefor the customer 6, and then receives a notification when the particularproduct or service is identified.

In some embodiments of the invention the customer 6 can be notified ofproducts or services, coupons, advertisements, reward cards or pointsfrom a merchant, etc., by the merchant offer application 10 when thecustomer is not even searching the web for a specific offer. Themerchant offer application 10, in some embodiments, uses the customer'swish list, or the customer's profile data and transaction history, tonotify the customer when one or more merchants are offering a particularproduct or service in which the customer 6 might be interested. In oneembodiment of the invention, the offers found by the merchant offerapplication 10 are sent to the user though various communicationchannels, such as, but not limited to e-mail, SMS, text messages,financial institution statements, on receipts for purchases online or atbrick an mortar institutions, or ATM transactions, etc.

In some embodiments of the invention, the financial institution canmonitor each customer's savings realized and not realized by using ornot using the merchant offer application 10. A system and process isused for determining and displaying to customers 6 the amount of moneysaved, including, but not limited to percentages saved, total savings,what could have been saved, etc. The merchant offer application 10,either online, though the local merchant offer application 11 or onlinebanking, or through paper statements, illustrates the amount of moneythe user saved or could have saved by using the merchant offerapplication 10 on both a total basis over a specified time period, aswell as on a transaction-by-transaction basis. In other embodiments ofthe invention, the amount saved if the customer 6 would have enrolled inmore financial institution product or services could also be illustratedonline or in paper statements. Also in some embodiments of theinvention, discounts, e-coupons, merchants, etc. can be suggested forfuture purchases through the online or paper statements.

In other embodiments of the invention the merchant offer application 10is accessed though and runs inside one or more of the account managementapplications 30, such as an online financial banking application. Forexample, in some embodiments the customer 6 logs onto to the customer'sonline financial banking accounts, and searches for offers through theonline financial banking account application. The merchant offerapplication 10, acting through the online financial banking accountapplication, provides offers, add-ons, etc. to the customer 6 aspreviously discussed. However, in this embodiment the offers aredisplayed though the online financial banking application not through aseparate local merchant offer application 11 that was downloaded to thecustomer computer systems 4. Therefore, in this embodiment, the customer6 could use the merchant offer application 10 on any computer becausethe merchant offer application 10 and local merchant offer application11 are run through an online financial banking application and are nottied to a customer's specific computer system 4.

The merchant applications 40, in some embodiments, allow the merchantsto access the merchant offer application 10 over the network 2 throughthe merchant offer system 3. The merchant offer application 10, in someembodiments, has a merchant interface that the financial institutionuses to mange the merchant network by only allowing access to themerchant interface to specific merchants that the financial institutionhas certified for inclusion into the merchant offer environment 1. Themerchant interface allows a merchant to enter offers into the merchantoffer application 10 that are available to all customers 6, groups ofcustomers 6, or individual customers 6 based on customer demographicinformation. In some embodiments, the merchant interface also allows amerchant to monitor its offers, such as the status and success of itsoffers.

The financial institution will first determine what merchants to certifyfor access to the merchant offer application 10. In some embodiments,the merchant must meet quality standards set by the financialinstitution before the merchant is certified. In some embodiments, thequality standards include the financial stability of the merchant,customer ratings of the merchant, supplier and distributor ratings ofthe merchant, product or service delivery time, payment timeliness, etc.These factors can be determined by the financial institution through anumber of different channels. For example the merchant financialstability could be determined from the accounts the merchant has withthe financial institution, other financial institutions, or outsiderating agencies. Customer, supplier, or distributor ratings of themerchant can be determined from consumer advocacy groups, or otherrating organizations, that the financial institution uses or with whichthe financial institution has partnered.

After the financial institution certifies the merchants for access tothe merchant interface, the financial institution provides the merchantswith user names and passwords or other merchant authenticationmechanisms that allow the merchant to access the merchant interfacethrough the merchant offer application 10. Thereafter, the merchant canaccess the merchant interface and authenticate that the financialinstitution has certified that the merchant can access the merchantoffer application 10. The authentication mechanisms also indicate to thefinancial institution that the current user has authority to createand/or monitor offers for the particular merchant. The merchant can thenbegin to enter offers for the financial institution's customers 6.

In some embodiments the merchant can create, modify, and control theoffers in the merchant applications 40 and upload the offers to themerchant offer application 10. In other embodiments of the invention themerchant can create the offers directly in the merchant offerapplication 10, through the merchant interface.

In some embodiments of the invention, when entering offers into themerchant offer application 10 the merchant can set various preferencesassociated with a product or service, such as, but not limited to, aspecific price or price range for which the merchant is willing to sella product or service, a discount percentage to offer, identification ofproducts or services or types of products or services to which to applythe offer, how long the offer will be available to customers, if theoffer changes over time, if additional discounts apply to the product orservice, etc. For example, to name a few, the merchant may set aparticular price for a product or service which will gradually declinein price automatically every month. The merchant may indicate that anoffer is only good for a month. The merchant may also indicate that aproduct or service will have an additional discount if the customerpurchases other products or services from the merchant at the same time.The merchant may offer credits or rebates to all the customers whopurchase a product or service, if there are a specified number of salesof the product or service.

In some embodiments of the invention, the merchant can also set whatcustomer should receive the offers based on customer demographicinformation, such as, but not limited to age, geographic location,customer purchasing history, groups or clubs the customer is associatedwith, etc. For example, some offers may apply to all of the customers 6in the merchant offer application. However, some offers may only applyto customers who live in a particular state or region. The merchant mayalso limit offers to individual customers 6 who have spent a specificamount of money with the merchant in the past, or who have purchased aspecific product or service from the merchant over a specific timeframe.

The offers entered into the merchant offer application 10 can beprovided to customers 6 in real-time, or in other embodiments can be setto take effect at a later date in the future or not until the financialinstitution has approved the offer submitted by the merchant. Themerchant has the ability, in some embodiments, to update the offers thatthey entered into the merchant offer application 10 anytime to try toinfluence sales of various products or services. However, in someembodiments, some offers may not be able to be changed for a period oftime once they are imputed into the system.

Since the financial institution is providing a service to its customers6 by providing offers to the customers 6 from various merchants, anymerchants who are not providing adequate customer service are alsoreflecting negatively on the financial institution. Therefore, not onlydoes the financial institution has the ability to manage the merchantsin the merchant offer environment 1 by determining what merchants areallowed into the merchant offer environment 1, but they also have theability to remove merchants from the merchant offer environment 1. Insome embodiments, the financial institutions can make periodic reviewsof merchants that have been certified, in order to make sure themerchants are still financially stable, or have received positivecustomer feedback.

In some embodiments, the merchant interface allows the merchant tomonitor current offers. For example, the merchant interface may createcharts, graphs, tables, and/or other statistics for the merchant anddisplay these to the merchant when the merchant logs into the merchantinterface. These statistics may relate to particular offers and thesuccess thereof, such as how often they are displayed to potentialcustomers, how often they are accepted, the amount of money being madeor discounted, and/or the like. The statistics may also provide anoverview of the success of the overall relationship with the financialinstitution and use of the merchant offer system 3.

Thus, systems, apparatus, methods, and computer program products hereindescribed provide for monitoring transactions and providing savingsmetrics associated with the transaction in conjunction with a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program. By monitoring all transactionsand providing the customer with savings metrics related to how much thecustomer saved using merchant offers provided by the program, as wellas, how much the customer could have saved if the customer had used anavailable offer, the customer benefits from knowing the financial impactof the program and the financial institution benefits by enticing thecustomer to use the program more frequently.

While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in theaccompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments aremerely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, andthat this invention not be limited to the specific constructions andarrangements shown and described, since various other changes,combinations, omissions, modifications and substitutions, in addition tothose set forth in the above paragraphs, are possible.

Those skilled in the art may appreciate that various adaptations andmodifications of the just described embodiments can be configuredwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore,it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims,the invention may be practiced other than as specifically describedherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for providing savings monitoring in afinancial institution-based merchant-offer program, the systemcomprising: a memory device with non-transitory computer-readableprogram code stored thereon; a communication device; a processing deviceoperatively coupled to the memory device and the communication device,wherein the processing device is configured to execute thecomputer-readable program code to: monitor one or more financialinstitution accounts held by a financial institution customer toidentify (1) one or more first transactions conducted by the customerwith a plurality of different merchants over a predetermined timeperiod, wherein the first transactions are identified based on customeracceptance of customer-specific first-merchant-offers associated withthe financial institution-based merchant-offer program, which wereoffered to the customer based on customer-specific information and (2)one or more second transactions, wherein one or more customer-specificsecond merchant-offers associated with the financial institution-basedmerchant-offer program were available concurrent with the secondtransaction, wherein the customer-specific second merchant-offers wereassociated with an item in the second merchant transactions and whereinthe customer-specific second merchant-offers were not applied by thefinancial institution customer in the second transactions; identify atransaction price for the item in the second merchant transaction;identify a merchant offer price for the item in the second merchanttransaction, wherein the merchant offer price is a price of the itemwith the customer-specific second merchant-offer applied; determine alost savings amount associated with the second merchant transaction,wherein the lost savings amount is a savings that could have beenrealized from acceptance of the customer-specific secondmerchant-offers, wherein the lost savings amount is a difference betweenthe transaction price and the merchant offer price for the item of thesecond merchant transaction; and provide the lost savings amount to thefinancial institution customer.
 2. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising determining a lost savings metric associated with the secondmerchant transaction, wherein determining the lost savings metricscomprises determining a total lost savings amount for the secondmerchant transactions, wherein the second merchant transactions occurover a predetermined period of time.
 3. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising determining a lost savings metric associated with the secondmerchant transaction, wherein determining the lost savings metricscomprises determining a total lost savings amount for the secondmerchant transactions, wherein the second merchant transactions occurover a life of the financial institution-based merchant-offer program.4. The system of claim 1 further comprising providing the lost savingsmetric for a predetermined time period and for the life of the financialinstitution-based merchant-offer program to the financial institutioncustomer.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the lost savingsamount associated with the second merchant transaction is furtherconfigured to be a per transaction lost savings amount.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein providing the lost savings amount to the financialinstitution customer further comprises providing the lost savings amountto the financial institution customer via a financial institution-basedmerchant offer program user interface application.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein providing the lost savings amount to the financialinstitution customer further comprises providing the lost savings amountto the financial institution customer via a financial institutionstatement.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the lostsavings amount associated with the second merchant transaction furthercomprises determining a percentage difference between the transactionprice and the merchant offer price for the item of the second merchanttransaction.
 9. A computer program product for providing savingsmonitoring in a financial institution-based merchant-offer program, thecomputer program product comprising at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having computer-readable program code portionsembodied therein, the computer-readable program code portionscomprising: an executable portion configured for monitoring one or morefinancial institution accounts held by a financial institution customerto identify (1) one or more first transactions conducted by the customerwith a plurality of different merchants over a predetermined timeperiod, wherein the first transactions are identified based on customeracceptance of customer-specific first-merchant-offers associated withthe financial institution-based merchant-offer program, which wereoffered to the customer based on customer-specific information and (2)one or more second transactions, wherein one or more customer-specificsecond merchant-offers associated with the financial institution-basedmerchant-offer program were available concurrent with the secondtransaction, wherein the customer-specific second merchant-offers wereassociated with an item in the second merchant transactions and whereinthe customer-specific second merchant-offers were not applied by thefinancial institution customer in the second transactions; an executableportion configured for identifying a transaction price for the item inthe second merchant transaction; an executable portion configured foridentifying a merchant offer price for the item in the second merchanttransaction, wherein the merchant offer price is a price of the itemwith the customer-specific second merchant-offer applied; an executableportion configured for determining a lost savings amount associated withthe second merchant transaction, wherein the lost savings amount is asavings that could have been realized from acceptance of thecustomer-specific second merchant-offers, wherein the lost savingsamount is a difference between the transaction price and the merchantoffer price for the item of the second merchant transaction; and anexecutable portion configured for providing the lost savings amount tothe financial institution customer.
 10. The computer program product ofclaim 9 further comprising an executable portion configured fordetermining a lost savings metric associated with the second merchanttransaction, wherein determining the lost savings metrics comprisesdetermining a total lost savings amount for the second merchanttransactions, wherein the second merchant transactions occur over apredetermined period of time.
 11. The computer program product of claim9 further comprising an executable portion configured for determining alost savings metric associated with the second merchant transaction,wherein determining the lost savings metrics comprises determining atotal lost savings amount for the second merchant transactions, whereinthe second merchant transactions occur over a life of the financialinstitution-based merchant-offer program.
 12. The computer programproduct of claim 9 further comprising an executable portion configuredfor providing the lost savings metric for a predetermined time periodand for the life of the financial institution-based merchant-offerprogram to the financial institution customer.
 13. The computer programproduct of claim 9, wherein determining the lost savings amountassociated with the second merchant transaction is further configured tobe a per transaction lost savings amount.
 14. The computer programproduct of claim 9, wherein providing the lost savings amount to thefinancial institution customer further comprises providing the lostsavings amount to the financial institution customer via a financialinstitution-based merchant offer program user interface application. 15.The computer program product of claim 9, wherein providing the lostsavings amount to the financial institution customer further comprisesproviding the lost savings amount to the financial institution customervia a financial institution statement.
 16. The computer program productof claim 9, wherein determining the lost savings amount associated withthe second merchant transaction further comprises determining apercentage difference between the transaction price and the merchantoffer price for the item of the second merchant transaction.
 17. Acomputer-implemented method for providing savings monitoring in afinancial institution-based merchant-offer program, the methodcomprising: providing a computing system comprising a computerprocessing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium, wherethe computer readable medium comprises configured computer programinstruction code, such that when said instruction code is operated bysaid computer processing device, said computer processing deviceperforms the following operations: monitoring one or more financialinstitution accounts held by a financial institution customer toidentify (1) one or more first transactions conducted by the customerwith a plurality of different merchants over a predetermined timeperiod, wherein the first transactions are identified based on customeracceptance of customer-specific first-merchant-offers associated withthe financial institution-based merchant-offer program, which wereoffered to the customer based on customer-specific information and (2)one or more second transactions, wherein one or more customer-specificsecond merchant-offers associated with the financial institution-basedmerchant-offer program were available concurrent with the secondtransaction, wherein the customer-specific second merchant-offers wereassociated with an item in the second merchant transactions and whereinthe customer-specific second merchant-offers were not applied by thefinancial institution customer in the second transactions; identifying atransaction price for the item in the second merchant transaction;identifying a merchant offer price for the item in the second merchanttransaction, wherein the merchant offer price is a price of the itemwith the customer-specific second merchant-offer applied; determining alost savings amount associated with the second merchant transaction,wherein the lost savings amount is a savings that could have beenrealized from acceptance of the customer-specific secondmerchant-offers, wherein the lost savings amount is a difference betweenthe transaction price and the merchant offer price for the item of thesecond merchant transaction; and providing the lost savings amount tothe financial institution customer.
 18. The computer-implemented methodof claim 17 further comprising determining a lost savings metricassociated with the second merchant transaction, wherein determining thelost savings metrics comprises determining a total lost savings amountfor the second merchant transactions, wherein the second merchanttransactions occur over a predetermined period of time.
 19. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 17 further comprising determining alost savings metric associated with the second merchant transaction,wherein determining the lost savings metrics comprises determining atotal lost savings amount for the second merchant transactions, whereinthe second merchant transactions occur over a life of the financialinstitution-based merchant-offer program.
 20. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 17, wherein determining the lost savings amountassociated with the second merchant transaction further comprisesdetermining a percentage difference between the transaction price andthe merchant offer price for the item of the second merchanttransaction.